Gulf Country Day 58 - Kurumba to Lawn Hill

Saturday, Sep 19, 1998 at 00:00

ExplorOz - David & Michelle

Tyre fix

We left Escott at 9.30am bound for Lawn Hill. I suggested we needed to stock up with more supplies so we made a slight detour of only 3kms or so into Burketown again. We bought a case of beer, a cask of red wine, some UHT cream, broccoli, soft drinks and forgot the most important item - bread. The road out to Lawn Hill via Gregory Downs was extremely good - we travelled at over 100kms per hour the whole trip. We stopped in at Gregory Downs for a drink at the historic pub and tried to buy bread but was told to go over the road to the general store.

Much to my disgust we drove across the road to the store, bought our load of frozen bread for $3 and then noticed the rear nearside tyre was going flat quickly. We pumped it up using our air compressor but it was deflating faster than we could inflate it so a quick tyre change was made. We ummed and ahhed whether to continue on to Lawn Hill to repair it there but thought the best place to make repairs was in the cool. The dirt road was only 100kms long and was almost a highway. Along the way we read signs suggesting we should bring our own firewood into the National Park and so at my insistence we stopped to collect some wood. Unfortunately it is my fault - but as we slowed down to stop, we flicked up a stone from the trailer onto the back rear door window and smashed it entirely. A quick roadside repair with cloth tape and we were on our way again.

Lawn hill

Arriving at Lawn Hill was like arriving at an oasis. The rolling mountains on the approach are spectacular in themselves yet alone the delightful cool green swimming water that awaits at your campsite. The rangers station is quite polatial and lies besides the gorge. Campers can enjoy swimming, cannoying and walking in perfect safety.

We arrived knowing we would meet up with 2 groups of friends - Herbert and Iza (our German friends) and Ken and Irene from Ballarat. Sure enough, we are camped right between the two and shared a swim and happy hour with Ken and Irene this evening.